DriveClub Review: Termed As “PS4’s Forza Killer” But Lost The Race In The First Lap

Driveclub, a word that caused a surge of excitement from the moment it was announced at the PlayStation 4 Event back in February 2013. Driveclub promised to be a lot of things in the racing genre, revolutionary next gen title, never seen before and the ultimate name given was: Forza Killer.

To keep Driveclub in our sight and mind, Sony and Evolution Studios released a lot of breath taking pre-release content for this game. It looked gorgeous and promising, we started to believe that Driveclub will create revolution.

But things started going down hill with the announcement of delay in the games launch. As always the official reason cited was “need more polishing.” Not only once, but Driveclub was delayed twice. Silence followed these announcements. But the pieces of content that later started arriving were astonishing, making gamers trust the developers again and justifying the delay.

Finally came the day of launch and boom again, Driveclub was hit by a huge server issue, creating deep disappointment among the fans. The free PlayStation Plus Edition was also missing. Among the chaos, I always had a ray of hope for Driveclub, and now the bumpy server issues are partially out of our way (not completely though still lot of work needs as confirmed by Sony Boss Shuhei Yoshida). Day by day Driveclub seems to become more and more stable.

So lets take a look at High & Low Points In DriveClub and whether or not it deserves your hard earned $60:

What Does Driveclub have that other racing games don’t

The very first aspect of Driveclub that will pop in your minds are the graphics, as compared to other racing games, Driveclub is a visual treat. Unlike MotorStorm, Driveclub is built for on road racing than off-road racing. The unique aspect of this game is you can create clubs of up to 6 players and complete various challenges together. Each player plays a key role in the club’s success. Winning will reward players with FAME, which is the main currency of Driveclub.

Driveclub Graphics (Cars and Environment)

As mentioned earlier, this game is a visual treat. Driveclub runs at 1080p and 30 frames-per-second, which stabilises the speedy graphics to a great extent. All the locations are inspired by real places in various regions across the globe.

Driveclub features lush tropical environments and the most amazing part is the racing at night. You will get to see some high end graphics here with gorgeous lighting effects.

One of the main features of any racing game is its Vehicles, Dirveclub will satisfy you a great deal in this area. I was impressed with the way these cars look. But whenever I collided with another car or object, I was treated with the visual of a vintage video games. The collisions are not next gen.

Audio

Sound effects related to races feel realistic. Sound of the vehicles are almost equal to the real counter partners. The most peculiar sound is the exhaust notes, if you are a car freak you will enjoy this part the most. Screeching tires and rumbling engines does not seem artificial. Sadly, if you compare the Driveclub sound effects with Gran Turismo, you will notice that Driveclub notes are not as detailed as the other game.

The Game

While in the middle of a race there will be a challenge popping up from fellow players. The levelling up is also slow but straightforward. You will get access to locked cars as you progress in this game.

Winning is not easy, there are aggressive AI drivers who will try to beat you professionally. As a favour, they do try to keep up if you are left behind but no compromises in winning a race. Driveclub races can be won with practice, patience and the determination to start again if lost.

Driveclub penalizes a player if he is too aggressive and relentless. Taking away some of the most crucial seconds of your lap. At the moment, the multiplayer part of Driveclub is running pretty well, but the races did not impress me much, specially when I was penalized for a collision that was not my fault resulting in me losing it. Be a bad boy and do all you can to win.

The disappointing part…

The most disappointing part is the collection of cars, you will find only 50 cars in this game, which is way too less compared to some of the major games available right now. The customizations in Driveclub, are rare to none. There are no tuning or customization options in this game.

While I was almost satisfied with the ‘technical’ sounds, soundtrack was a huge blow. Right from the very first track, the soundtrack decided to lower my strips. For a speedy fast paced game like Driveclub, soundtrack lacks the power and beats that are usually expected. You will not find fancy artists to chose the music from, its mostly just Amen Break.

Verdict

After two delay announcements and a very rocky launch, Driveclub finally arrived. Visually this game is of next gen standards but overall, with no customaizastion, a small car list and below average sound track, Driveclub could not impress me for the value of money.

Why Evolution Studios decided to keep us waiting for so long, if they had an average game to offer, is known to them alone. Buy this if you really have to else skip it and wait for The Crew.